From the introduction to Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations, edited by Carol J. Adams and Josephine Donovan, published by Duke University Press:

We believe that feminism is [a] transformative philosophy that embraces the amelioration of life on earth for all life-forms, for all natural entities. We believe that all oppressions are interconnected; no one creature will be free until all are free—from abuse, degradation, exploitation, pollution, and commercialization. Women and animals have shared these oppressions historically, and until the mentality of domination is ended in all its forms, these afflictions will continue.

In one of the essays in the volume, "Thinking Like a Chicken: Farm Animals and the Feminine Connection," Karen Davis describes Viva, "the first chicken I ever really knew":

Viva was not only strong-willed and alert; she was expressive and responsive. One of the most touching things about her was her voice. She would always talk to me with her frail "peep" which never got any louder and seemed to come from somewhere in the center of her body which pulsed her tail at precisely the same time. Also, rarely, she gave a little trill. Often after one of her ordeals, in which her legs would get caught in her wings, causing her terrible confusion and distress, I would sit talking to her, stroking her beautiful back and her feet that were so soft between the toes and on the bottoms, and she would carry on the dialogue with me, her tail feathers twitching in a kind of unison with each of her utterances.

In "Beyond Just-So Stories: Narrative, Animals and Ethics," Linda Vance describes herself communing with a frog:

I lay still, belly down and legs splayed out; she did the same, but she was floating, and the movement of water eased her toward me. We looked back and forth at each other, the sun warming our backs.

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